Family friend seeks to administer the estate of school shooter's mother

During a brief hearing on Monday February 19, 2018 accused Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz sat with his head bowed, barely acknowledging his attorneys.

The Lantana woman who took in Nikolas Cruz and his younger brother after their mother died is asking to be named the personal representative of the estate their mother left behind.

The day after the massacre that killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Rocxanne Deschamps filed documents in Broward Circuit Court to administer the estate. The records list the sole heirs as NikolasCruz, 19, who confessed to the killings and could face the death penalty, and Zachary Cruz, who will turn 18 on Wednesday.

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In her two-page petition, Deschamps says she was a family friend of the boys’ mother, Lynda Cruz, and that she now cares for Zachary.

Lynda Cruz died of pneumonia at age 68 on Nov. 1 at West Boca Medical Center. The court filing says she died without a will.

She does not stand to receive any of the assets herself, but could be paid a reasonable fee — approved by a judge -- for her time and effort in sorting out the estate, said probate attorney Frank Walker, of Fort Lauderdale, who is not involved in the matter.

Walker said the filing appeared to be a “prudent thing” for Deschamps to do because she has custody of Zachary and is seeking court oversight to obtain any assets for him.

On Monday, a woman at Deschamp’s Lantana home would not identify herself but said: “I have no comment” and asked a reporter to leave the property. Deschamps’Boca Raton attorney, Audra Simovitch, did not respond to a phone call.

Property records show Deschamps and Lynda Cruz were neighbors at one time in Parkland, living on the same street.

After their mother’s death in November, both sons stayed in Lantana with Deschamps, but Nikolas left and went to live in Parkland with James and Kimberly Snead, the parents of a schoolmate of his.

Cruz told the Sneads he stood to inherit at least $800,000 from his deceased parents. His father, Roger, died in 2004. Most of the money would come when he turned 22, Nikolas claimed.